1
POPSAmusing Ourselves to Death
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.
6
POPSA media orgy of rumors, speculation and falsehoods
It's worth focusing on what the major media did last night, and one can use the Hot Air compilation to examine that. I understand that in the early stages of significant and complex news stories, it's to be expected that journalists will have incomplete and even inaccurate information. It's unreasonable to expect them to avoid errors entirely. The inherently confusing nature of a mass shooting like this, combined with the need to rely on second-hand or otherwise unreliable sources (including, sometimes, official ones), will mean that even conscientious reporters end up with inaccurate information in cases like this. That's all understandable and inevitable. But shouldn't there be some standards governing what gets reported and what is held back? Particularly in a case like this -- which, for obvious reasons, has the potential to be quite inflammatory on a number of levels -- having the major media "report" completely false assertions as fact can be quite harmful. It's often th
2
POPSHave a nice atomic 6 August
It's the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. It's another chance for people to call the US a terror state and Truman a war criminal. Or it's another chance for a lot of people to realize that they're alive today because of the A-bomb"not just the millions of US troops who were slated to invade the Japanese home islands, either. There are their descendants as well. Then there are the millions of Japanese who survived because of the A-bomb, and their descendants. And"as this article makes clear"there are many more millions of Chinese and other Asians who survived once the Japanese surrendered"and their descendants. But…who really cares about so many Asians anyway if the point is to blame the US? As for the Japanese themselves, they have always blamed the correct person for the A-bomb: the emperor. His policies brought this destruction down on their heads, nothing else. Then again, the bomb also saved lived in Europe since it prevented Stalin from taking over nations in Western
3
POPSPork-Barrel Orgy at Home, Obama Hammers Defense Waste
Speaking to an audience of military veterans, President Barack Obama called for cutting wasteful defense spending and for reforming the way defense industry does business. “Every dollar wasted in our defense budget is a dollar we can’t spend to care for our troops or protect America or prepare for the future,” he said Monday. Obama really let if fly when he talked about the need to reform the “defense establishment,” calling wasteful defense spending an “affront” to the American people and the troops. Using a similar approach the administration has used in its arguments to pass health care reform, Obama singled out “special interests, contractors, and entrenched lobbyists” who oppose changes to the status quo. “They’re putting up a fight. But make no mistake, so are we.” He vowed to cut any weapons program that doesn’t support the troops in the field or underperforms. http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/08/17/obama-hammers-defense-establishment/
7
POPS“In Congress, We Have to Multi-Task” Oh, Sheila “We need to make sure we get on national news,” Lee quipped, quelling the crowd by having a college opera student sing the national anthem. Occasional chastising punctuated the rest of the meeting, some comments accusing her of wasting time when introducing a state politician who had joined the crowd and other jeers when she talked on her cell phone while a constituent posed a question to her. “In Congress, we have to multi-task,” she explained. Yep: Avoiding questions, not reading bills, and trying to stifle dissent all at once takes a special kind of public servant.
10
POPSAdvertising Gone Wild: Group Sex Implied This ad is on a billboard in NYC. In case you missed what the ad is actually selling, there is, in small print, in opaque typeface, the words Calvin Klein Jeans. In my opinion this ad is in extremely poor taste, mainly for where it is displayed. I personally do not understand how an orgy scene could possibly sell jeans, or any other clothing for that matter, but I realize I am not among their target audience. They obviously think they are so much more sophisticated than someone of my age group. And, I realize that simply by objecting to it identifies me as a member of that group. I can already hear some of you screaming that I am an oppressor of ‘freedom of speech’ as soon as I say this ad is inappropriate to be placed in such a public place. So bring it on. I have never considered myself a prude, I am not for censorship unless it lends itself to the corruption of minors, as this ad clearly does.
9
POPSSanta Claus is a Psychoactive Mushroom ... The scholars of hominid history are uncovering a constantly larger past in which the earlier members of our species continually appear to be smarter, more accomplished, more adept, and more complex than we had previously believed ...
24
POPSThe ultimate reaping of what one sows: right-wing edition From the article: When you cheer on a Surveillance State, you have no grounds to complain when it turns its eyes on you. If you create a massive and wildly empowered domestic surveillance apparatus, it's going to monitor and investigate domestic political activity. That's its nature. I'd love to know how many of the participants in today's right-wing self-victim orgy uttered a peep of protest about any of this, from 2005:
3
POPSTODAY IN ROTTEN HISTORY from Rotten.com NO ONE should see this as an endorsement of Rotten.com by me. This site is something that should be treated like a leper at an orgy. And on this site, that may not just be a metaphor! Some of the most terrible things are here and this is att best, the tamest portion. Seekers wishing to go further are warned....
2
POPSDemocrat's Retreat Burns Through Half A Million Dollars In Taxpayer Cash Readers need to be reminded that the President going to this event was the candidate who at one time lamented about the American people eating what we wanted, driving SUV’s, and keeping our homes at 72 degrees. Real leadership consists of not placing a set of expectations upon those following you that you yourself are not willing to abide by. If President Obama was anything more than a poser, he would refuse to participate in this ostentatious consumption at taxpayer expense. Obama now in combat mode A day after banning corporate executives from earning more than $500,000 a year via taxpayer bailouts, Mr. Obama on Thursday will head to a Democratic retreat that has burned through half a million dollars in taxpayer cash for annual retreats at luxury resorts. http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/apologies-no-more-obama-in-combat-mode/
1
POPSThe Fallacy That Government Creates Jobs The theory of government-instigated job creation overlooks the loss of resources available to the productive sector of the economy. Frederic Bastiat, the great French economist is well known for many reasons, including his explanation of the "seen" and the "unseen." If the government decides to build a "Bridge to Nowhere," it is very easy to see the workers who are employed on that project. This is the "seen." But what is less obvious is that the resources to build that bridge are taken from the private sector and thus are no longer available for other uses. This is the "unseen." So-called stimulus packages have little bang for the buck. Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw filled in the blanks and calculated that each new job (assuming they actually materialize) will cost $280,000. In reality, the cost of each government job should reflect how that $280,000 would have been spent more productively in the private sector.
3
POPSFar Be It From Me... ...to stand apart from the post inaugural orgy. Here is my own little contribution (clipped by me...I lack the mad photoshop skilz to make something like this)
11
POPS"World Orgasm Day" Orgy Cancelled Due to Threats The Raelians are known for their liberal attitudes towards sexuality. They believe that mankind was created by aliens who arrived here thousands of years ago in UFOs. Despite their opposition to Biblical attitudes towards sex they see the Bible as a book that bears witness to ancient alien visitors, and place particular emphasis on the Book of Ezekiel, which they see as an ancient account of a UFO visitation.
7
POPSScottish Student Orgy Quite normal in a nation which balances dour propriety and abandoned excess. (Just think of Gordon Brown)
2
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update